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I have a big fat crush on Héloïse Letissier, the eclectic French ingenue known as Christine and the Queens. My friend John turned me on to her music a year ago; however, I never watched any of her performances online, so my assumption was this Monday night show would be cool and chill, just like her music. I was wrong; and quite frankly, blown away by her mastery of playing with gender identity, self confidence and emotion by blending high performance art, unique dance moves, sharp humor and light design that complement her songs perfectly.

‘Tilted’ is her best known song, so I did a little reading up on its origin. This article in Timenot only brought the origin of the song, but the origin of her persona as well. God love her, drag queens and RuPaul weigh heavily in her back story. In the show, she talked about a time when she was most ashamed of herself. It was about a young boy, a ‘freak’ she called him, being bullied on a London bus. She admitted she did nothing to help him at the time, but she went home and wrote my favorite song on the album, ‘Saint Claude.’ It’s powerful, and it’s the basis of her core message — to embrace low self-esteem, depression and insecurity almost like a superpower.

It’s no wonder she’s adopted RuPaul’s Drag Race sign off as her personal mantra: ‘If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you ever going to love somebody else?’ Can I get an amen in here?